' were the most common of war banners used on the

medieval Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to Japanese Paleolithic, prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millenni ...

ese battlefield. The term can be translated to literally mean ''symbol flag'', ''marker banner'', or the like. Unlike the later ''

nobori is a Japanese banner. They are long, narrow flags, attached to a pole with a cross-rod to hold the fabric straight out and prevent it from furling around the rod; this way, the field is always visible and identifiable. History of use The ''nob ...

'', which were stiffened, these banners were simple streamers attached to a shaft by a horizontal cross-piece. Later, some ''hata-jirushi'' were hemmed on the sides to create a sleeve for a pole on the side and top, or had pieces of fabric attaching their side and top to poles to make the banners visible from the front. There are two variants of the Hata-jirushi: One end of the cross-piece was attached to the shaft or the cross-piece was suspended from the shaft, similar to the

Vexillum The ''vexillum'' (; plural ''vexilla'') was a flag-like object used as a military standard by units in the Ancient Roman army. Use in Roman army The word ''vexillum'' is a derivative of the Latin word, ''velum'', meaning a sail, which co ...

. ''Hata-jirushi'' served much the same purpose as the ''nobori'', which replaced them, identifying and distinguishing

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

s or sections of an army.

Gallery

Chosokabe Morichika Banner; Natsuka Masaie (1562?-1600) Banner.jpg, Chosokabe Morichika hata-jirushi; Natsuka Masaie (1562?-1600) hata-jirushi Makino Narizumi Personal Standard; Matsukura Katsuie (1597-1638) Banner.jpg, Makino Narizumi Personal Standard; Matsukura Katsuie (1597-1638) hata-jirushi Uesugi Mochifusa hata-jirushi.png, Uesugi Mochifusa, two banners, dragon and tiger. Traditional style hata-jirushi. Takeda Shingen hata-jirushi; Nagao (Uesugi) Kenshin hata-jirushi.png, Right to left: Takeda Shingen, hata-jirushi, Hata-jirushi, black ground with gold lettering, Nagao (Uesugi) Kenshin, hata-jirushi, red sun on white ground with white ear pendants, hata-jirushi, white ground with black character "bi" signifying Bishamonten, a warrior deity. Note the different styles of hata-jirushi. Hatajirushi3.png, From right to left: Red banner of the Taira clan, Old banner found in Wada village of Yoshino county Yamata province, Takeda Shingen hata-jirushi, white ground with black four-diamond crest and white pendant used for generations by the Takeda family, Hata-jirushi, white ground with blue border, white pendant, and red lettering. Flag of Furinkazan.svg,

Fūrinkazan , is a popularized version of the battle standard used by the Sengoku period ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen. The banner quoted four phrases from Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'': "as swift as wind, as gentle as forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable ...

banner

Sources

References

*Turnbull, Stephen (1998). ''The Samurai Sourcebook''. London: Cassell & Co.

External links

Guns Scrolls and Swords exhibit
at the Harold B. Lee Library, includes full text PDFs of ''Hata Uma–Jirushi Ezu''
Seiki shuzu
manuscript illustrating hata and uma-jirushi Military communication in feudal Japan Japanese heraldry Samurai weapons and equipment {{Japan-mil-hist-stub ja:馬印